Geoff Thomas: Rough weather brings catch of a lifetime

Opinion

While rough weather meant fishermen and boaties in the Bay of Plenty were dodging containers and other debris from the wrecked ship Rena, for one Tauranga angler it produced a once-in-a-lifetime bonus - a huge black marlin.

The team on the boat Jan's Decision had last weekend decided to head home from Mayor Island as conditions worsened, and put out some lures on the trip back to Tauranga. A short distance from the island, in only 80m of water, a marlin struck and Beni Hafoka took the rod.

The fish took 700m of line in the first run and then sounded and died on the bottom.

The ocean swells helped as he winched the fish up, and after two hours and 20 minutes they had it.

The black marlin weighed 375kg, one of the largest caught in New Zealand waters for many years.

It was the second marlin recorded in the bay for the season - the first, a striped marlin, was caught the day before and a mahimahi weighed the same weekend is an indication of warm waters.

The tropical speedsters travel the warm ocean currents with other game fish like spearfish, tuna and marlin.

The first marlin of the season was a striped marlin tagged and released by Guy Sutherland fishing off the Bay of Islands on January 4, and the first one weighed was recorded at Tutukaka the following day.

A striper was caught inside the Ninepin on Wednesday, and there are plenty of skipjack tuna at around 140m. Kingfish are plentiful at the cape but are hard to hook, and there are also kings following the snapper schools in the bay at Mita's Foul.

Off Auckland's west coast is a pocket of 23C water sitting only 12 miles off the Manukau bar, and there will be game fish in the area.

But the weather continues to be the problem for those wanting to head out on to the water.

However, the fish are there. In fact, around Auckland, the snapper are in close.

The work-ups have slowed down out wide and the beds north of Tiritiri Matangi Island, which were fishing so well before Christmas, are holding mainly small snapper.

So it is not necessary to travel far. Kauri Pt and the Pt Chevalier reef in the Waitemata Harbour are worth checking, and there are snapper from Bayswater to Devonport. The reef at Bean Rock is popular with charter boats, and there were large numbers of kahawai and birds congregated there last weekend.

The channels are all holding snapper now, which is the usual pattern for this time of year, and it is a matter of working the tides. There are big tides this weekend, which will make fishing difficult at mid-tide in the harbour and in the channels, so it will be a good idea to start at slack water and fish through until the current becomes too fierce, when you can move out into the wide open spaces.

Pilchards are proving the most consistent bait, but it is wise to add a piece of squid on top of a chunk of pilchard so it lasts longer.

Fresh yellowtail filleted and cut into strips is always a good option; though it attracts fewer bites, the snapper hooked are usually larger.

In Rotorua, anglers jigging on Lake Rotoiti are doing well, with trout stacked up on the thermocline at Hauparu Bay and the west bank. The fish are running at 2.5kg to 3.5kg, with the occasional bigger one.

The Ngongotaha Stream was clearing on Thursday and should fish well this weekend.

Five trophy brown trout between 5kg and 6kg have been recorded and the fishing for large trout in the stream and the Waiteti Stream will only get better over the next two months.

The cold-water stream mouths like Awahou and Hamurana are starting to fire and the continual northerly conditions will help. Popular patterns are the uv-pearl grey ghost and jack spratt, although traditional flies like the red-bodied ginger mick are still favourites for many older anglers.

Early-morning harling on Lake Tarawera is also going well, and fly-fishing from a drifting boat at Kariri Pt when the wind chops up the surface can produce some hot fishing.

More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 5pm tonight, and on the internet television channel www.FishnHunt.Tv